The Scout Report - August 9, 1996

August 9. 1996

A Publication of Internet Scout
Computer Science Department, University of Wisconsin

A Project of the InterNIC

The Scout Report is a weekly publication offering a selection of new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to researchers and educators, the InterNIC's primary audience. However, everyone is welcome to subscribe to one of the mailing lists (plain text or HTML). Subscription instructions are included at the end of each report.The Scout Report Web page

Medscape--With free Medline accesshttp://www.medscape.com/
Free searching of the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE abstracts database has been added to the wealth of medical information for practitioners and health care consumers available on the Medscape site. Free registration is required before using most of the site's features. The Medscape site offers full-text articles from a number of medical journals, all of which are searchable. The "Patient Info" section groups information for consumers by category; the articles within each category are linked to related information elsewhere on the site. The news page offers the latest medical headlines, as well as recent articles grouped by subject. For practitioners, the "Exam Room" is an interactive diagnostic challenge which evaluates user responses to the condition presented; in fact, non-practitioners interested in interactive instruction may benefit from the example of these pages. Throughout, the site is well organized and effectively cross-referenced.[Back to Contents]

Diversity--Resources for K-12 teachershttp://www.historyserver.org/HSSWeb/diversit.html
Teachers looking for ways to incorporate more diversity into their curricula can browse through this extensive list of resources to find information on everything from the Amish to the Pygmies of Zaire. The "General Sources" listing is the most extensive, currently offering 142 links to Internet sites concerned with diversity issues. Although most are annotated, the list items are not arranged in any particular order. The other links on the page are grouped into categories: disabilities, migration and immigration sources, Jewish resources, Asian American, African American, Women's Studies, Native American, and Hispanic. An interesting additional feature is "The Cultural Landscape," which gathers links relating to the functions of communities, whether rural, urban, or suburban. This page is part of History/Social Studies Web Site for K-12 Teachers, which offers a range of other resources as well.[Back to Contents]

Full-text State Statutes (US)http://www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/f.htm
This meta-index gathers links to Web, gopher, telnet, and ftp sites that contain the full text of state statutes, state constitutions, and other legislative resources. Of course, results of your searches depend on what each state has made available, and each state offers a different searching mechanism. Some entries have been annotated, particularly where instructions are necessary (as in the case of telnet sessions, or when a certain plug-in is required for viewing). There is also a supplementary page with links to resources related to state legislation, such as executive orders and administrative rules.[Back to Contents]

National Research Council--Science in the Headlineshttp://www.nas.edu/headlines/
For background and context on breaking scientific news, turn to "Science in the Headlines." Provided by the National Research Council (the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering) and the Institute of Medicine, these reports examine a range of current scientific issues. Written by volunteer committees of experts, each report gives information about the science behind the issues, written in non-technical language; relevant press releases from other agencies are often included. Current items featured on the site are the juvenile crime rate, life on Mars, the Food Safety Act, protecting buildings from bomb damage, airport security, whooping cough vaccine, safety information about 1997 model cars, and a back-to-school look at science education.[Back to Contents]

Online Seminar on Universal Servicehttp://info-ren.pitt.edu/universal-service/network-democracy.html
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides universal service subsidies for schools and libraries. This seminar, to be held online, will inform participants about those provisions, and how they can help their school or library secure needed funding under the Act. Participants' contributions to the seminar will be made available to the Federal Communications Commission as it plans for implementation of the universal service provisions of the Act. Information Renaissance, the non-profit organization responsible for the seminar, has also made available a repository of all comments and replies submitted to the FCC during the rule-making process. The seminar will take place during the five week period from August 26 - September 27, 1996. Registration will be open starting August 12, 1996.
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.][Back to Contents]

CORELINK Discussion List
Previously a list dedicated to the national standards movement in education and core curriculum, CORELINK has been re-focused to cover the following subject areas: leading issues in national educational policy, applications of telecommunications and the Internet to education, partnerships between business and education involving technology, philosophical and theoretical matters pertaining to learning and online culture.
Send email to:listproc@mercury.cair.du.edu
In the body of the message type:subscribe CORELINK firstname lastname[Back to Contents]

Life on MarsNASA's "Life on Mars?" (mirrored on 2 sites)http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/flash/marslife/http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/marslife/CNN Special Report--Mars: Life Signs?http://cnn.com/TECH/9608/mars.life.special/index.html
The rock that rocked the world is the subject of many new sites this week. NASA's official "Life on Mars?" site has press releases, photos, video, audio from press conferences, and background information on meteorites. Due to the heavy public interest in this topic, expect some delays in retrieving information from the NASA sites. Follow the debate about life on Mars by visiting the CNN special site devoted to the discovery. In addition to articles, audio, and video, this page provides links to many official and non-official sites about this discovery, Mars, and even meteorites in general (including Meteorite Central, which accepts advertisements for meteorites for sale).[Back to Contents]

Industry Talkhttp://www.ibm.com/industrytalk/
This entry into the web-zine genre, sponsored by IBM, draws content from several sources and organizes it into two major sections, "Computers and Society" and "Business and the Network." Each section contains six items, ranging from current headlines to articles on computer ethics. Unlike many such publications, Other Voices has almost no editorial "voice" of its own, instead selecting interesting content that speaks for itself. Even the page background colors are muted, a pleasant surprise compared to many 'zines' fluorescent palettes. Feature content appears to be updated weekly, while current news headlines are abstracted daily.
[Note: Site title has changed since the original Scout Report review. Site formerly referred to in the Scout Report as "IBM's Other Voices."]
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.][Back to Contents]

Center for Democracy and Technologyhttp://www.cdt.org/
The Center For Democracy and Technology, a non-profit public interest organization, offers this Web site with information about the state of free speech and civil liberties on the Internet. Visitors to the site will find current headlines, updated every few days, as well as coverage of issues related to privacy, terrorism, cryptography, infrastructure, and digital telephony, among others. Back issues of CDT policy publications are also available, organized chronologically and annotated with a subject line. Coverage of the issues reflects the mission of CDT, which develops and advocates public policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic values in new computer and communications technologies.[Back to Contents]

The Why Fileshttp://whyfiles.news.wisc.edu/
Updated twice a month, the Why Files explores the "science behind the news." Current features are "Radiation Reassessed," an exploration of the effects of low-dose radiation, and "Olympic Ambition," about the impact of science on the Games. Each set of articles contains links to related information, as well as a glossary and bibliography. The style of presentation is informal, even irreverent, and that adds to the interest of the site. Past issues are archived on the site, and are searchable. A user forum is provided, as well as an announcement and discussion mailing list. The Why Files are provided by the National Institute for Science Education (NISE), which is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by the National Science Foundation.[Back to Contents]

New York Times: Business Connectionshttp://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/reference/busconn.html
The New York Times On the Web has recently added a new section, Business Connections, to its highly selective collection of Web links. The new section provides one-stop shopping for the most authoritative business-related network resources available. For example, the Markets listings include links to all U.S. exchanges, foreign exchanges, and selected market information sites. The Investing section offers a dozen links to general information and a half-dozen more to the top investment companies and trading services such as Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, and Charles Schwab. Company Information provides traditional sources such as Dun & Bradstreet along with the Web 100--the top US and international companies on the Web. A good selection of business directories is included, in addition to separate listings for business and financial news, banking & finance, and government & public organizations. Note that free registration to The New York Times On the Web is required before entry into any of their pages.[Back to Contents]

Organization of American Stateshttp://www.oas.org/
The OAS, the world's oldest regional organization, offers current information on their programs and issues via this web site. The "Programs and Issues" page gathers information on current OAS activities in the areas of trade, democracy, environment, human rights, drug abuse control, telecommunications and information infrastructure, and others. Press releases, the OAS charter, and a weekly calendar of events are all available on the site. Every country in the Americas is a member of the OAS (with the exception of Cuba), and information on the OAS Mission in each is provided, along with pointers to Web and gopher information sources within that country. The entire site is also available in Spanish.[Back to Contents]

Dictionary of PC Hardware and Data Communications Termshttp://www.ora.com/reference/dictionary/
Extracted from the printed book of the same name (O'Reilly and Associates, 1996), this web-based dictionary presents the user with a simple form interface for entering a search term. The definitions provided vary greatly in length and depth of coverage, ranging from a terse expansion of an acronym (the entry for "NIC" simply states "Network Information Center," and offers no additional detail) to a table describing DOS file extensions for TrueType fonts, to a lengthy essay on the structure and function of T1 circuits. Each definition page is linked to those of related terms, and also to other sites that contain more detailed information about a particular topic. While there is much here that will be of use to networking professionals in need of a quick reference, those new to the net can also find answers to their basic questions about the terminology they've run across.[Back to Contents]

Hotwired Webmonkeyhttp://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/
If you've come to appreciate the wacky style, bright colors, and cutting-edge content from the folks at Hotwired, then you won't be disappointed with Webmonkey, their latest contribution to Internet hipness. The site is organized into sections: browsers, plug-ins, HTML, "Geek Talk," demo, and "Tuneup." You can find out about the latest in enhanced browsing and Java applets, and even test your browser's capabilities in the tuneup section. The site would be most useful to people learning how to navigate the Web, but even those more comfortable with HTML and other Web-centric concepts can find items of interest here. As one might expect, the site depends on the latest enhancements; if you don't have Java enabled, for example, you won't be able to use the monkey-wrench navigator on the home page, which is the user's first hint that the Webmonkey aims to work like no other site you've been to. If you have a Hotwired log-in, you can use the same id here.[Back to Contents]

Department of Education WWW Server Standards & Guidelineshttp://www.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html
Institutions and organizations needing to standardize their Web efforts might draw upon the document that the US Department of Education (ED) has created. As a model for a style guide for online content, it provides an idea of the scope that is required. The guide covers such issues as navigation/organization and style/markup, and includes links to the guides of other agencies as well as to hypertext style guides from many sources. As one might expect from documentation that is the result of a governmental committee, the coverage is thorough and detailed, including background and definitions, as well as separate guidelines for ED-controlled, ED-sponsored, and external content. The ED plans to update the guide at least every six months. The document is available in HTML, RTF, PDF, WP6.1, and WP5.1 formats.[Back to Contents]

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Copyright Susan Calcari, 1996. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the Scout Report provided the copyright notice and this paragraph is preserved on all copies. The InterNIC provides information about the Internet to the US research and education community under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation: NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the National Science Foundation, AT&T, or Network Solutions, Inc.